Milton High may not be a contender for the Badger South boys basketball championship, but it became a major player in the title race Thursday night.

The visiting Red Hawks shocked Monroe, 40-36, for their biggest win of the season and knocked the two-time defending champion Cheesemakers out of first place.

Monroe (10-6) fell to 7-2 in the conference and a half-game behind Madison Edgewood (8-2), while Milton (6-9, 5-3) bounced back from a last-second loss at Wilmot on Tuesday and broke a five-game losing streak to wind up up only one behind the front-runners in the conference loss column.

Mason Walters, a 6-7 senior, again led the Red Hawks with 19 points. He was tough on the Cheesemakers all night and made the big plays down the stretch.

Mitch McArdle opened the fourth quarter with a three-point goal that gave Monroe its biggest lead at 31-27. Walters grabbed two clutch offensive rebounds and put back his own miss to give Milton a 35-33 lead with 2:41 remaining.

Mitch Tordoff answered with a three-pointer from the wing that gave Monroe a 36-35 lead, but the rest of the night belonged to Milton. Walters hit a jumper with 1:27 remaining to give the Red Hawks the lead for good at 38-36, and they held the Cheesemakers scoreless for the last two minutes.

Tordoff scored 17 points in joining Walters as the only scorers in double figures.